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RIVERSIDE, Calif. - The UC San Diego women’s cross country team had a strong showing at the UC Riverside 5k Collegiate Open Saturday, placing second overall. On the men’s side, the Tritons finished third in the 8k Collegiate Open and fifth overall in the 8k Invitational.

Women 5k Collegiate OpenThe Tritons had three finishers in the top 10, with sophomore Marie Diaz finishing fourth overall with a time of 18:03.7.

Sophomore Paige Hughes was the sixth overall finisher with a time of 18:04.5, marking consecutive races as the second to cross the line for UCSD. Junior Madison Tanner, coming off a second-place finish at the UCSD Opener, came in with a time of 18:11.2 to place inside the top 10 at seventh overall.

Freshman Ella Verhees continued her strong start to the 2013 campaign, coming in at 17th overall with a time of 18:31. UCSD finished up its scoring with senior Chia Chang coming across the finish line in 23rd with a time of 18:41.1.

Ayded Reyes of Cal State San Marcos was the top finisher, coming in at 17:55.5.

The Tritons (41 points) wound up second out of 20 teams with an overall time of 1:31:31.5, while Cal State San Marcos (38 points, 1:31:13.2) won the event.

Men 8k Collegiate OpenJunior Sean Upson led the Tritons in the 8k Open, coming across the finish line with a time of 26:25.1 to place 17th overall.

Freshman Brendan Gee placed 19th at 26:33 while senior Ryan Lok finished 23rd with a time of 26:45.2.

So Cal Elite (36 points) won the event with a time of 2:10:46.2, followed by Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (85 points) at 2:13:57.6. The Tritons finished with a group time of 2:14:04.8, good for third out of 17 teams with 90 points.

Men 8k InvitationalThe Triton men placed fifth overall in the 8k Invitational, led by another strong showing in 2013 from Tareq Alwafai. The sophomore placed 10th overall at 24:42.6 to lead the Tritons.

Following Alwafai, three Tritons came across the finish line in consecutive order. Senior Kellen Levy (34th place) finished with a time of 25:31.2, junior Tanner Collins (35th place) at 25:32.4 and junior Daniel Hauptman (36th place) at 25:32.8.

Rounding out the scoring for UCSD was senior Mario Flores with a time of 25:37.9 to place 39th.

Central Arizona’s Harry Mulenga placed first in the event at 23:45.1.

UC Santa Barbara took home the team win at 2:03:49.4, totaling 54 points. Southern Utah (79 points) placed second at 2:04:07, Central Arizona (112 points) took third with a total time of 2:04:41.1 and Cal Poly Pomona (130 points) grabbed fourth at 2:06:12.9. The Tritons totaled a time of 2:06:56.9 in fifth out of 23 teams, finishing with 141 points.

The Tritons will be back in action on Saturday, Sept. 28. UCSD will split in two groups, with one traveling to Minneapolis, Minn., to compete in the Roy Griak Invitational, and the other headed to the Cal State San Bernardino Invitational.